How long oil supply will last

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Select free newsletters: The Weekender. Today's Highlights. King Hubbert looked at oil production data from all of the major oil-producing countries in the world at that time. Based on his statistical analysis of the data, he projected that U. These projections came to be known as "Hubbert's Peak.

So, maybe Hubbert had a point, and maybe there is something to the "peak oil" paranoia. The reality of the "amount of oil" is more complex. When Hubbert made his predictions in the s, the oil industry was still in its technical infancy. Most oil production came from so-called "elephant" oil fields, tremendously large reservoirs of easily-accessible oil.

To imagine what these "elephant" fields were like, think about the theme song to the Beverly Hillbillies , when Jed Clampett shoots a hole in the ground and oil comes spouting up.

We should realize that burning gas impacts on global warming because of CO 2 emission. Global coal demand is up 0. Coal is the oldest fuel we have and it has taken few hundred millions of years to form from vegetation. The US, China and India are still actively mining coal. How long will coal last?

It will depend on new technology, may be years in order to replace oil and gas. According to the IEA, in total global coal consumption in energy terms increased by 1 percent, or Again, China and India lead the increase in consumption. While the world is gobbling up fossil fuel, we are also developing alternative fuels. The world is actively developing renewable sources of energy — solar, wind and hydro — though the latter is limited because of global warming and overall lack of water.

Global renewable power production increased by 6. The growth rate in is around 75 Million tonnes oil equivalent Mtoe. As fossil fuels begin to disappear, nuclear power is becoming more and more prominent because it is the only alternative base system capable of providing electricity continuously 24 hours a day. It is carbon-free, vital to our clean energy future.

It was first developed in the s and since then its safety features have been much improved. Nuclear grew by 3. Uranium may last over years.

But the coming of thorium-based nuclear reactors has been touted as the future of energy [18]. First, thorium is more abundant in nature than uranium. Thorium can be used in conjunction with Uranium, to transmute to Uranium to be used in various kinds of reactors.

A variety pf reactors may be used, in particular molten salt reactors. But we can take action to affect change. The U. Businesses and non-profit organizations can contribute toward meeting social challenges because of their experience meeting the needs of consumers and different stakeholders. Private debt has emerged as a new frontier for credit investors, borrowers, and lenders—with the market expanding tenfold in the past decade.

But the growing investor base, a lack of available data, and the distribution of debt across lending platforms make it hard to know how much risk is in this market and who holds it. The growing acceptance of the climate threat from carbon-rich energy is focusing minds on producing cleaner fuels rather than stockpiling sources of old, dirty ones.

Two reports this month gave diverging assessments of who rules the global oil reserves roost and highlights the disconnect between reported oil wealth and the ability to pump the barrels. Likewise, the rankings for the top resource holders have shifted little in recent years.